


Barry's Rogues

by jujukittychick



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU of my existing story, Adorable Barry Allen, Barry is much confused, Boys Kissing, David Singh deserves an award for putting up with these guys, Fluff and Humor, Homophobic Language, M/M, Oliver visits Central City, Protective Oliver Queen, Singh will make it better, bad Central City PD, incorrect police procedures, the PD is very confused, the Rogues love Barry, will have multiple pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26725285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujukittychick/pseuds/jujukittychick
Summary: Barry has a unique relationship with Captain Cold and his Rogues.  During a visit to the CCPD by Oliver, secrets start to come to light and Barry’s left with a whole lot of explaining to do.**Irregular updates
Relationships: Barry Allen & Oliver Queen, Barry Allen & Rogues (The Flash), Barry Allen/Oliver Queen
Comments: 27
Kudos: 174
Collections: One Million Words





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If any of this sounds familiar, it is pretty much exactly the same as my first two chapers of my fic “How Barry and Oliver Confused….” The end of the second chapter set up for me to take the story in several different directions and this is one of those alternate timelines essentially.
> 
> Chapter Summary: Oliver makes a visit to Central officially to pay a visit to the CCPD with the intention of making a financial contribution to improve their resources. Unofficially though? He just wants to see his favorite little speedster.

Barry was exhausted. He'd worked late at the precinct processing samples for a case then, just after he'd finally gotten home and sat down to eat, had gotten called to Flash duty because some new Meta was causing problems. That issue had kept him up until about 2AM by the time the fight died down and they were able to get him locked down and sent off to the authorities. Needless to say, he'd missed his 6AM alarm and was now stumbling into the precinct and heading toward the stairs to his lab as quickly as he could humanly manage.

"Allen!" 

Late again. Barry's head dropped as he rubbed at his eyes tiredly, hearing the snickers and not quite whispered comments from the officers at the desks behind him. Lifting his head, he tried to paste a smile on his face though he knew it probably wasn't very effective. "Yes, Captain?"

David Singh stared at the tired looking young man in front of him, his clothes wrinkled and hair looking like he'd forgot to even try to brush it. "One day, Allen, that's all I asked for, just one day for you to be on time. And you show up looking like this?"

"Sir?" Barry looked down at himself, confused, then realized his clothes were even more wrinkled than usual. Oops. "Sorry, sir?"

David tried not to be swayed by the confused kicked puppy look the kid had going. "Did you not remember the memo about the Very Influential Person from Star City coming to the precinct today? The one looking to donate a substantial amount of money to the department?"

"Umm, there was a memo?" He thinks he might have seen the email memo with something in the title about a visit, but one of his samples had finished processing and he had needed to check it.

David sighed, wondering for the millionth time if the kid's amazing work was worth the headaches he gave him.

"Barry?"

Hearing his name called across the expansive room, Barry turned, a bright grin breaking out on his face. "Ollie?" Jogging across the room as Ollie walked quickly towards him, he couldn't help the laugh that slipped from him as the larger man scooped him up in a hug and spun him around. "What are you doing here? Are you the big VIP that was coming today?"

The silence from every officer in the building was deafening as they watched the scene. Joe looked up from the paperwork he was working on to see the stunned reactions from his coworkers and snorted. To be fair, seeing Barry's lanky body in his wrinkled clothes tucked up against Oliver Queen's much larger suit covered frame was amusing. Of course the bright smiles on both their faces couldn't help but warm him considering everything the two had to deal with on a normal basis. 

"Hey, kid. Yeah, that's probably me. Don't know that Ray was planning to come down anytime soon, anyway. Speaking of, Felicity, Thea, and Digg say hi." Oliver, aware of the stares and unusual lack of noise behind him, decided he really didn't care unless someone made an issue of it. It wasn't often he got to see Barry in non-life threatening situations.

"Oh, how's the baby?" 

Oliver chuckled and squeezed Barry's arm warningly as he felt him start to vibrate in his excitement. "She's getting bigger every day, and I know because Digg shows me pictures  _ every day _ ."

Barry caught the warning and bounced on his toes instead, just so happy to see his normally moody friend looking so relaxed. Of course if he had to deal with the kind of stuff Ollie and his team had to deal with on a regular basis, he'd probably be a lot more angry and broody too. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could have taken the day off so we could hang out."

David cleared his throat at that comment, giving Barry a pointed look.

Barry blushed, finally realizing exactly where they were and that absolutely everyone was watching. "Umm, I could have asked very nicely for the day off to spend with my good friend who was coming from out of town at the last minute to visit?"

David rolled his eyes, wondering again what it was about the kid that made him so hard to stay mad at. 

Joe decided he better interrupt before Barry dug himself into a hole. Walking up to the pair, who still had an arm around each other (and he was going to be defending Barry's honor for days at this rate), he smiled and held out his hand. "Hi, Oliver, nice to see you again." He had to bite back a laugh as Oliver, instead of simply releasing Barry to free his hand, instead somehow managed to shift him over to his other side in one smooth motion.

"Hi, Joe, good to see you." Keeping Barry tucked up against his side, and conveniently further away from the people he could already hear gossiping, he shook the other man's hand. "And I would have said something, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I'll be here for a couple days so I thought maybe we could get everyone together for dinner one night?"

Barry grinned, looking from Joe back up to Oliver. "Oh, that'd be awesome. I'm sure Cait and Cisco would love to come. I'll message everyone and see if we can set something up. You want to try that new place over on Main? Oh wait, you wouldn't know about that, would you? But I've heard really good things, and..."

Oliver laughed and ran his hand up Barry's back to ruffle his hair. "I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine, Bar, you know best what I like." Catching the slightly bewildered look on the Captain's face, Oliver decided it was time to be official again. Offering the man an apologetic smile, he extended his hand. "I'm sorry for my rudeness, you must be Captain Singh. Barry's spoken highly of you."

David, trying to ignore Barry's blushing and whined "Ollie!" from where he buried his face against the other man's chest, shook his hand. Glancing at his embarrassed CSI, he offered the man a smile. "Yes, well, Mr. Allen certainly is something." And promptly wanted to facepalm as Barry smiled brightly at him like he'd just given him the best compliment in the world. "We really are lucky to have him working for us; he's a spectacular CSI." And that he could honestly say without any hesitation, the startled look Barry gave him for it though and the softening of his expression, just made him huff and point towards the stairs. "Go to work, Allen. I'm sure you've got some kind of tests you need to be running. You can visit with our guest on your lunch break."

Oliver tried to keep from smiling at the Captain's obvious soft spot for Barry and instead pulled Barry back into another quick hug before ruffling his hair. "He's right though, I've kept you long enough. Go be brilliant, I'll take you out to lunch later. You too, Joe, if you're free?"

"No, thanks though. You two have fun and catch up. I'll let Iris and Eddie know about dinner." Joe shook his hand again and made his way back to his desk, giving a couple of cops some very dark looks as he caught the tail end of some conversations. They just better hope they didn't mouth off where he could hear them properly, or, worse, where Oliver could.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver would recognize Barry's...assets...anywhere.

Oliver had been escorted around the station by Captain Singh for the past couple hours, making notes of things that could use upgrading (Felicity and Ray would cry over their outdated computers and network setup), or simply replaced (to be honest he thought the whole station could use an interior makeover with its sad and worn out 1980's decor). A call from the mayor had pulled Singh away, leaving Oliver on his own for a little while to look around.

Paying little mind to the conversations around him, and ignoring the leers some of the cops kept casting his way (though he really couldn't figure out the reason for their attitudes), he finally found Joe at his desk, piled high with files and documents. Taking a seat next to his desk while he waited for Joe to finish his call, he closed his eyes, once again wound up listening to whispered conversations going on around him, too many of them mentioning Barry it seemed. Scowling, he opened his eyes as Joe called his name.

"What can I do for you, Oliver? Or maybe I should call you Mr. Queen while you're here?" Joe's eyes sparkled with laughter as Oliver wrinkled his nose at the question.

"Please don't. Oliver is just fine for you guys." 

"So, what can I do for you? I see the captain left you on your own to snoop around."

"He got a phone call from the mayor; I figured it was more important than playing tour guide. Especially since I know you." It was Oliver's turn to laugh as Joe rolled his eyes. "I was just wondering if you could show me where Barry's office is? It's getting close to lunch time and I figure he's probably about to starve, especially if he was running late this morning."

Joe shared a knowing look with Oliver at Barry's bad habits, leaving both of them smiling. "Sure, come on. It's on the top floor, the skylight in there is how the lightning got to him."

Oliver couldn't remember if he'd known that or not, a small frown tugging at his lips. "And he doesn't have any problems working there after that?" Following Joe through the bullpen, he wondered if they had sealed off the opening after the accident.

A surprised yelp and the sound of several small thuds had the two men hurrying around the corner of the wall of cubicles, the two freezing in their tracks at the site before them. Oliver grinned as he watched the slender figure on his hands and knees scrambling to pick up scattered papers, cheap slacks pulled taught over a perfectly formed ass.

Joe glanced over at Oliver and scowled, rolling his eyes. "Oliver."

Oliver coughed and covered his smile with his hand. "Sorry, Joe, I'd know that as...um, figure anywhere."

"Uh huh."

"What I don't understand is how someone with his...abilities...is still such a klutz."

"There are some mysteries I don't think we'll ever understand."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit hits the fan and secrets come to light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is where the storyline from the main story diverges completely and instead of happy fluffy, we now start getting some dark and angsty stuff. Warning, Barry has not had a happy life in the police department and he’s been hiding a lot of things from a lot of people

Oliver and Joe had turned away as they were speaking to each other, laughing to themselves over a couple shared instances of Barry’s overwhelming clumsiness during everyday life when there was the distinct sound of a body being impacted by something and papers scattering over the floor once more.

“Watch where you’re going, Allen.” A cruel laugh drew the men’s attention to a detective leaning looming over where Barry knelt on the floor, a hand clutching his ribs. “Look at you, bet you’re used to being on your knees. If we’d known all we needed to get some upgrades around here was selling your ass, we would have done it ages ago.”

Oliver was already stalking across the lobby when he heard laughs coming from several officers, both plain clothes and uniformed, scattered around the room. He vaguely heard Joe calling him but he’d already reached the detective, and a quick punch to the man’s jaw sent him careening back against a wall of file cabinets, the noise echoing through the cavernous room, bringing most of the activity to a stop.

Oliver glared at the man now holding his face as blood trickled through his fingers. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“You heard me, Queen.” The man spit a mouthful of blood at Oliver’s shoes. “Only thing that crazy piece of shit is good for. He’s gotta be putting out for somebody to be able to keep his job here, and now all of a sudden we’re told some rich ass stranger from out of town is coming to make a charitable donation to help us out and turns out you two are all cozy with each other. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out he must be fucking you too.”

Oliver reared back, his fist flying through the air once more, only for Barry’s hand to catch it, the force of the hit enough to send him skidding back a step in his sneakers.

Shaking his hand out, because  _ fuck  _ Ollie’s punches hurt, Barry stepped between the two, completely missing how the surrounding officers were boggling over how incompetent little Allen managed to catch that punch, especially without breaking his hand. “Don’t, Ollie. There’s no need for you to do something to get locked up, Thea would hate having to come down to bail you out. It’s not worth it. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before and won’t hear again.”

“What?” Oliver’s features went even more glacial.

“Excuse me?” Joe, who’d just reached the group, felt his blood boil at his son’s words.

Barry huffed an unamused laugh and gestured toward the angry looking officers surrounding them now. “I work in the definition of a hostile environment. Every single day I have come to work from the very first day I started, I have been insulted, pushed around, called names, threatened...it never ends. The only reason I still work here is because I like my work. I like making a difference, helping put away bad guys and clearing the innocent. And yeah, I could go work in some other city, but my family is here and I’m not leaving them unless I have to.”

Joe’s face fell as Barry spoke. “Son, why didn’t you ever say anything? Make a formal complaint?” 

“Against who, Joe? The entire precinct?” Seeing his startled face, Barry nodded. “Oh, yeah. Not one person here hasn’t, at the very least, called me crazy for defending my dad. Oh, I’m ‘Henry Allen’s kid, bet he’s just as bad as his father,’ or ‘listen to that nutjob, swears some guy in a yellow suit framed his dad,’ and on and on and on. I’ve been mocked for being hit by lightning and having to stay in the hospital, like I had any control over any of that. I’ve had my competency questioned for surviving that and coming back to work. I’ve been called every variation of whore you can think of because surely the only way I’ve managed to keep my job is by offering my ass up to somebody higher up and not because I actually do my job really well. It’s not even because I’m a guy; they’d be saying it if I was a girl too. Or they’re ‘bumping’ into me or just flat out shoving me out of their way, usually when my arms are full of files or reports, making me waste time compiling them all correctly and hoping that nothing important,  _ like evidence needed to lock away a criminal _ , went missing when everything falls and gets jumbled together.”

Oliver looked around, seeing guilty faces now mixed in with the angry ones, watched as Barry’s face turned redder and his eyes grew watery. And there, at the back, the one he hoped had heard all of this, with a stormy expression on his face as he too looked around at the officers.

Barry tugged at his hair as he tried to catch his breath and calm himself down. Refusing to look around at anybody else, he focused on Joe as he felt the anger diminishing. “Joe, it is honestly less stressful for me to be kidnapped by the Rogues than it is for me to come to work on a normal day. How completely fucked up is that?”

“And exactly  _ how many _ times have you been kidnapped by Cold’s crew, Allen?” 

Barry’s head snapped to the side as his Captain’s voice cut across the muted chatter around him. He watched nervously as Singh made his way through some highly nervous looking officers. “Ummmm?” Looking between Joe and Oliver, Barry scratched the back of his head, his fingers twitching slightly as if he was counting. “Uh, how many times was I out sick last year?”

“What?” David took a deep breath as the full impact of that statement actually hit him. “Do you mean to tell me that every time you called out sick, or were called out sick,” he cast a meaningful look at Joe who refused to meet his eyes, “you were actually being held hostage by the Rogues?”

“No? Well, I mean, I know the Flash’s teammates and so the first couple of times one of them kidnapped me it was because of that. But then the Flash rescued me so it wasn’t really a big thing, and then the Flash and Len, um, Snart, made an agreement so they stopped kidnapping his friends. But, you know, new metas showing up and they didn’t get the memo or whatever so then some of the original Rogues would wind up finding me and setting me free, but then some of Santini’s gang members apparently saw me with them and thought that if they captured  _ me  _ they’d have leverage, but then that just apparently pissed everybody off, and...um…” Barry stumbled to a stop as he saw the completely bewildered looks on almost everybody’s faces, though Joe and Ollie looked like they were both trying not to laugh. “So, I mean, I wasn’t really held hostage since nobody asked for a ransom?”

“That...that is not the point! How did you...Why did you even think...I can’t even start to explain how...how…” David was in complete shock. This fucking kid! Shelving that whole situation until he could manage to  _ think  _ in full sentences again, he turned his anger on the person who’d apparently started this whole clusterfuck of a mess. Pointing at the still bleeding officer who was trying to blend into the file cabinets, he then stabbed his finger in the direction of his office. “My office. Now! The rest of you, back to work, and be prepared for upcoming mandatory attitude adjustment training in your futures.” 

Taking a deep breath, he turned back to face Barry, noticing how Queen had managed to tuck the younger man up against him once more, a hand rubbing his arm soothingly, Joe hovering nearby. “Mr. Queen, given the...extenuating circumstances, I’ll wave the charges for assaulting an officer. Mr. Allen...Barry, what you have described...I can’t begin to apologize enough for your treatment while under my command. I promise, I knew nothing about what was going on, though that in itself doesn’t say much for my leadership. I promise, from here on out, I’ll be making a better effort of ensuring  _ all  _ of my employees are treated with dignity and respect. If you have  _ any  _ further issues with anyone in this building, I expect you to come to me directly. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to cause a scene like this, and usually it’s not so bad, but Ollie got involved and I didn’t want him getting in trouble, you know?”

“I can understand that, Barry. And Mr. Queen, I...I don’t even know how to apologize for everything that’s happened this afternoon. I’ll completely understand if you’ve had a change of heart and…”

Singh was cut off as the front doors slammed open and a young voice rang out across the room, happily exclaiming, “Barry!”

Barry’s head whipped toward the door and he stepped out of Ollie’s hold. “Axel?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to the admins taking down all of my plot bunny collections, I now have a separate site [here](https://jujubunnies.freeforums.net) for them. Feel free to leave requests (though I don’t guarantee anything) or tell me which ones you like. Maybe I’ll get inspired. Make sure you leave your AO3 name so I know who to credit if I do write something :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The precinct gets an idea of exactly how close Barry is to the Rogues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so people are probably OOC as hell, but I've had this scene in my head forever, it was actually what prompted this AU, and honestly, I barely remember the one episode I saw Axel in and most of the fic I've read have him more or less like he is here, so there's that.

“Axel?” Barry looked at the grinning, costumed young man in handcuffs bracketed by two uniformed officers holding his arms. Muttering, “Oh, for fuck’s sake, what now?” Barry turned to Oliver and waved toward the still scattered files on the floor. “Can you grab those, don’t worry about the order, I’ll have to go through everything again anyways.” Completely forgetting about the Captain and everybody else, his focus on the youngest Rogue, he gestured towards Joe’s desk as he passed his surrogate father, “Can you grab me an evidence kit?”

Stopping in front of the still grinning Rogue, Barry looked him over critically before looking at the two officers. “What’d he do now?”

“It was so cool, Barry, you should’ve seen it! Multi-colored bubbles everywhere!”

“Apparently, hallucinogenic bubbles in one of the park fountains.”

“Seriously, Axel?! Was there anything else? Did you put that stuff anywhere else?”

“Nah, didn’t have enough made up to do more than one.”

Barry pinched the bridge of his nose, completely oblivious to everyone staring at the scene in shock. “You didn’t run this by Len did you?”

Axel suddenly seemed to realize that Barry was not, in fact, amused. “Well, no, but you know he’s always busy with stuff. Besides, it was just for fun, get people to lighten up a little.”

“Axel…” Barry sighed and looked over at Joe who had stopped next to him, holding out an evidence collection kit. Pulling on a pair of gloves, he opened up an evidence bag. “Hands out.” Glancing at the officers,he proceeded to remove Axel’s gloves and bag them. “Was anybody harmed? Did anybody ingest anything?”

One of the officers glanced between the strangely commanding CSI, the detective playing gopher, and their captain behind them both who had a pained look on his face, though he nodded for the officer to answer the question. “Um, no. Somebody spotted the perp and apparently called it in immediately. We’ve got officers on scene cordoning off the area.”

Barry looked into Axel’s eyes as he shook his head. “You lucked out. Do you realize what could have happened? Honestly, what if somebody had walked out into traffic or started attacking people thinking they were monsters or something? And if a kid or an old person had gotten into it, they could have had a heart attack or seizure or something. And what about the animals in the park, Axel? The birds and squirrels drink out of those fountains; their poor little systems can’t handle that kind of stuff. Open.” Swabbing the inside of his mouth, Barry tried to ignore the subtle sniffling that was coming from the other young man. “Where did you even get hallucinogenic bubbles from anyway? Nevermind, don’t answer, you made them.” Muttering as he bagged and tagged all the random samples he was taking, he shook his head. “Could have become a chemical engineer, but noooo, has to be a villain.”

“I’m sorry, Barry. It was just supposed to be a joke.”

Barry sighed, looking at the incredibly unhappy young man. “I know, Axel, but this is why you’re supposed to run things by Len first. So things like this don’t happen. Look, hopefully the fountain is on a closed plumbing system and they’re only going to have to worry about flushing out its water and machinery. When you call Len, tell them nobody’s to try breaking you out. At the most they’ll probably get you for destruction of property and vandalism, maybe some intent charges. If you behave, you’ll probably be out in a few months. You might even get visitation privileges. You need to learn you can’t do stuff like this, seriously.”

“But, Barry!”

“No, Axel.” Turning to the two officers, he pointed to the various costume pieces their prisoner was wearing. “When you get him processed, I’m going to need all his clothes to test for chemical samples.”

“Ah, come on, Barry, this is my favorite outfit.”

“You should have thought of that before playing around with strange chemicals.” Unable to withstand the serious puppy dog eyes Axel had going on, Barry shrugged. “I’ll try not to destroy them, even though you know Hartley would just go buy you new ones. Write down the formula so I can send it over to Caitlyn to try to work up a neutralizer for it, okay? Plus, it’ll show you’re willing to cooperate. Do you have anything in your clothes I need to know about before I start messing with them?”

“We searched him after we cuffed him.”

Barry blinked at the officer in confusion. “Of course you did.”

“He didn’t have any weapons on him.”

Barry tilted his head and gave Axel a suspicious look.

Axel sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine, coat hem and boot soles. I didn’t even  _ try _ to use them though!” 

“Of which, I am very thankful, Axel, and I’ll be sure to make a note of it for the lawyers.”

The two cops turned startled looks on the Rogue they’d been handling so carelessly.

“Make sure he gets pen and paper after he’s processed; I need that formula for the hallucogenic. Also, a sample if someone at the scene can get one. Thanks.”

“Yeah...sure. I’ll call it over.” The officer was so confused by the entire situation. Then again, after a glance around the department, he wasn’t the only one. Deciding it was way above his pay grade, he nodded to his partner and they started hauling the young man off to be processed.

Finished tagging the last of the quick samples he’d taken off of Axel while they were talking, Barry finally noticed the relative silence around him and looked up at Joe’s concerned face, though he noticed the signs of laughter trying to slip free as well.

“Oh, son, the messes you get yourself into.”

“Huh?”

“Mr. Allen? I think we need to have a talk about what exactly your relationship with the Rogues entails later.”

Cringing, Barry turned around, finally noticing everyone staring at him as he suddenly realized exactly what he had done the past few minutes. Ignoring Ollie’s snickering, he tried to give his Captain an innocent smile. “Oops?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for that talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably mention that if there’s any kind of scenes you want to see to let me know. I really don’t have any actual plans for this. I don’t know what pairings there will be, though it may wind up poly barry/ollie and barry/len.
> 
> Also:   
> CSI- Crime Scene Investigator  
> CIs - Confidential Informants

Barry hid himself away in his attic office for the next couple of hours, Ollie wandering through occasionally to keep him company as tests ran, though he was nice enough not to bring up the encounter with Axel...yet. Barry figured he was probably waiting until they were in private so no superhero business was accidentally aired.

It was just before 5pm and time for him to clock out when his phone rang, ID showing the Captain’s office. Hitting the speaker button, he answered nervously, “Yes, Captain?”

“Allen, get down to my office, it’s time for you to talk.”

Barry winced at the man’s curt words, nodding, “Yes, Captain. I’ll be right there.” He flinched at the sound of the handset being set a little too hard back in the cradle. 

“Come on, Barry, I’m sure everything will be fine. He’s just got to make sure all his bases are covered in case there’s some legal dispute; you know that.” Oliver walked over to the young man, his whole posture slumped and looking defeated. Stopping in front of him, much too close for normal personal boundaries, Ollie gently smoothed the hair back from the smaller man’s face, tipping his chin up with a soft touch. “It will be okay. And I’m coming in there with you and I’m sure Joe and maybe even Eddie will be there too. You’re not alone.”

Barry looked up at Oliver, a faint vibration running through his body at the gentle touches he was being given, the soft look in the older man’s eyes. Tongue darting nervously over his lips, he nodded. “I know. You’re right, and I’m probably over thinking things, but...this is my life, Ollie. I really do love my job. I love knowing I make a difference as  _ me _ , plain old Barry Allen. I worked hard for my degree and I’ve had to struggle almost every day I’ve worked here to do my job. Just...just once I’d like to not have to fight. You know?”

“Oh, kid…” Ollie pulled him into his arms, hugging him tight as Barry trembled in his arms, suspicious sniffles escaping from where he buried his face against Ollie’s jacket. Giving in to his own selfish urge, he nuzzled against the young man’s silky hair, just for a moment, but it was enough to draw a startled breath from the slim figure and the hold around his waist to tighten slightly, pulling their bodies that much closer together.

Forcing himself to step back from the warm hug, Barry gazed wonderingly at his friend, wondering if he had imagined the small movement. “Ollie?”

Fighting not to blush, Oliver coughed and turned to look at the clock. “Come on, we don’t want to make him even madder by keeping him waiting.”

Flinching again, Barry still couldn’t let the moment go. “But, Ollie, what…?”

“Later, Barry, okay. When we have time to talk. I promise.”

Barry wanted to argue but he knew Oliver was right and the Captain was going to be made he’d stalled this long as it was. Darting around the room, he tidied up all his work and made sure everything was secured as needed before gathering his jacket and messenger bag. Feeling like he was heading to the chopping block, he nodded and headed toward the door.

~~

David Singh looked at the four people sitting in front of his desk, one he wasn’t even sure why was there, and tried to figure out where to start after the giant clusterfuck of a day that one normally mild mannered and relatively unnoticeable Barry Allen managed to cause through no real fault of his own. Thinking about the Axel kid, he edited that -  _ almost _ no fault of his own.

“Once again I feel I should apologize to you Barry. No, I need to say this.” He cut off the kid’s immediate stumbling refusal and apologies of his own. “I have dealt with a lot of hate directed my way over the decades due to nothing other than the choice of who I love. Times have changed and rules and laws have changed, but it doesn’t stop hate from happening if it’s determined enough. I swore, when I became Captain here, that I would not allow discrimination and personal attacks to go unpunished; that I wouldn’t turn a blind eye to things. And yet, the biggest case of hate speech and discrimination and bullying went on right under my nose and I didn’t even notice. And that...I have to live with that. But I  _ will _ learn from it, and I  _ will _ do better for all of my employees from here out. And if you feel you need some time off to deal with everything that was brought to light today, then it will be granted. Also, if you ever feel the need,” and he made sure not to look at the other three men in the room, knowing that any potential answer could be swayed by fear of their opinions, “come speak to me and I can recommend a good therapist that’s helped me personally in the past deal with my experiences.”

“I...I don’t... _ thank you _ , Sir. I will definitely consider it.” Glancing over at Joe’s sad expression, he reached out to squeeze his arm. “I probably should have gone to see one after I came out of the coma but I thought getting right back into work would help distract me.”

David could honestly say he was shocked speechless for a moment. He never expected for him to even partially agree while the others were in the room, but instead he reached out to them for support. True Joe was essentially his father, but that can be its own deterrent sometimes, but Joe simply murmured an apologetic agreement while Eddie gave him a supportive smile. And Oliver Queen...well, he still couldn’t figure out what their relationship was, but the way he reached over to the younger man, hand cupping the back of his neck for a moment, well, they were definitely close.

Shaking his head, he moved on to the next problem of his day and felt the headache that he’d held off since everything had started come back in full force. Popping a couple of pain relievers with a drink of cold coffee, he stared down the four men. “Now, about the Rogues and Leonard Snart and your relationship with all of them.”

Barry felt his face light up in a blush and tried not to huddle down in his chair. “Honestly, it just kind of happened?”

“I’m going to go out on a limb here, kid, and say that your extremely  _ close and personal _ knowledge of the Flash has something to do with this change in circumstances?” David felt like facepalming as the kid darted a guilty gaze to the men around him. Honestly, David was a detective for pete’s sake, the kid could at least  _ try _ to be a little subtle. Though Queen’s careful blanking of his expression was incredibly curious and also telling. “Alright, so I’m assuming all of you are aware of this Flash situation and as I  _ don’t know anything _ and would like to keep my plausible deniability, we’ll leave that assumption there. Public record will state what you said in front of very many official witnesses earlier, namely that you have the world’s worst luck with criminals and have been repeatedly kidnapped and have managed to develop a dialogue with an otherwise uncooperative group of criminals.”

“Huh? Oh! Um, yes! That’s right!” Barry nodded vigorously as the Captain’s words sank through his budding panic over him suspecting him of being the Flash. Feeling much more secure, he started explaining all in a rush. “Honestly, they’re not completely uncooperative. Once, um, the Flash made an agreement with Len...Snart...Captain Cold? Um, yeah, once they made an agreement about not killing people, the whole crew really has been much better about using non lethal means of accomplishing things. And after the first couple times I was kidnapped by them, it really was more of them coming to help me get unkidnapped by other people. But I swear I haven’t tampered with my work on crime scenes or anything! In fact I’m usually extra diligent in any case involving a meta just because there’s so many new ones popping up every day and we...um, the police and the Flash’s associates at Star Labs… need all the information we can get to stop them properly.”

David was saved from the barrage of words and explanations by Queen’s hand suddenly covering Barry’s mouth.

“Breathe, Barry. I’m sure the Captain just wants to make sure that proper procedures have been followed both on scene and in the labs. There’s probably some piece of paper you need to fill out stating that you have a friendly relationship with known criminals. Honestly, there’s bureaucrats involved, there’s always a piece of paper somewhere.”

David snorted because the man wasn’t wrong, though he was curious as to how he knew what would probably be asked of him.

Oliver tilted his head slightly as something occurred to him. “It’s a little irregular, with Barry being a CSI and not a detective, but could he possibly claim that they’re his confidential informants? Or rather that he’s the only law enforcement member they were willing to work with? That would give everyone some leeway wouldn’t it?”

David stared at the businessman for a long moment, surprised when he didn’t even flinch or glance away, and wondered exactly how tied up in Flash business the apparently rich playboy from out of town actually was. “That...is not a horrible idea. As you said, it’s highly unorthodox with Allen being a CSI, usually it’s the detectives with CIs, but I’m guessing the Rogues don’t have quite the same relationship with you, Joe?”

Joe coughed in surprise, “Yeah, not so much. Some of them aren’t quite as  _ hostile _ towards Eddie and me anymore, but they definitely wouldn’t reach out to us.” 

Barry stared at the men around him in shock. The Rogues? Captain Cold’s crew of criminal metas? As  _ his _ CIs? Oh god Mick and Lisa were going to have a field day with this. “You can’t... _ them? As CIs? _ ... _ Really?! _ ” 

David leaned back in his chair as the others explained exactly why the idea would work to the younger man, though part of it he wound up humming through because  _ plausible deniability damn it! _

Slamming his file drawer closed, he slid a piece of paper across the desk with a pen. “Allen, just accept this and fill out the paper. And, in case it should help at some point, remind them that as CIs, there is certain monetary compensation occasionally available for services rendered.”

Barry looked over the form in front of him, still in shock from the exceedingly weird end to an exceedingly weird day, before looking up at his Captain, resigned to losing the next hour or so to paperwork. “Do I have to list every one of them or can I just call them the Rogues?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Barry finally get to have their talk, and a little more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this so far. So the boys finally get a little closer this chapter, it's pretty much all fluff and awkwardness lol
> 
> Oliver shortens Barry’s name when he’s talking to him. Writing it, it would read as “Bar” which isn’t right, so I’m writing it as “Bear” which is the way it sounds
> 
> Word Count: 2434

As Barry filled out his paperwork, interspersed with muttered comments of “fuck my life, seriously” and “they are so not going to believe this,” Eddie slipped out to meet Iris for dinner while Joe, David, and Oliver went ahead and discussed the things Oliver had found on his tour and went over suggestions about what was needed or just wanted.

Barry, finally finishing filling out the forms, didn’t bother hiding the sulking glare he gave his Captain. “I still think this is a dumb idea that nobody’s actually going to believe, but there. It’s got everyone I can think of listed with all known legal names and ‘villain’ names that they might use. Can I go home now? I’m kind of starving.” And with his metabolism, he really did mean that.

David flipped through the paperwork, surprised at exactly how many people were listed, some of them he wasn’t sure he’d even heard of yet. Giving his CSI a studying look, because, honestly, how the kid had become acquaintances, if not actual friends, with the Rogues was mind boggling. “Yeah, go on, and...unless you’ve got a pressing case you’re working on, take tomorrow off. I’m going to be going through the security tapes and doing reviews with people tomorrow and I’m sure it’s going to be a little hostile in here despite my best efforts. I’d rather not make you a target so soon.”

“I..yes, sir. There’s nothing pressing, but one of the others can always call me if they need to know where I left off with something. My progress is all documented.” Barry didn’t like the idea of hiding away, but after the emotional upheaval of the day, he couldn’t say he was adverse to taking a day to decompress either. Plus, letting the Captain know that everything he’d handled was documented per procedure, let him know that if anything  _ odd _ should happen while he was gone, they would know where to look for answers.

“Good. Maybe you and Mr. Queen can work out some plans regarding how to carry out some of these upgrades with a minimum of disruption?”

Oliver stood up, laying a hand on Barry’s shoulder. “That sounds like a great idea. I’ll conference call Ray...Palmer... and my assistant Felicity, who are both on the tech side of things, and get some input from them as well. Despite today’s unfortunate incident, it was nice to finally meet you.” Shaking hands with the Captain, he squeezed his hand as he looked him in the eyes, “I trust you’ll do all in your power to keep something like this from happening again.”

David managed not to flinch from the steely grip on his hand, but it was close. Whatever else Queen was, he wasn’t some careless party boy. “I give you my word, I’ll be doing my best to root out the people behind everything and make sure that something like this can’t happen again. And thank you again for deciding to help us. I realize it’s probably because of your friendships here, but it is still appreciated.”

Oliver nodded his understanding and the group gave their farewells before stopping in the lobby, Oliver’s hand resting on the small of Barry’s back.

Joe, noticing once again how close the two were, stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “You boys coming to the house for dinner?”

Oliver shared a look with Barry, who grew a little pink around his ears, and shook his head. “Maybe another night. Barry and I need to talk about some stuff, and I can just order as much food as he needs to the hotel room and nobody will notice how much we actually go through.”

Joe gave Oliver a knowing look, but laughed, “I’m not going to argue with not having my whole kitchen wiped out at once. You boys have fun tomorrow then. Call me if anything comes up.”

Escorting Barry to his car, he waited, hands on the wheel, after turning it on and they had gotten settled. “It’s up to you, Barry, we can go anywhere, out to dinner or to your place or back to the hotel. After your day today I kind of figured you might want some privacy though, plus I figured we can maybe, uh, have that talk.”

Barry twisted to look at Oliver who seemed awfully tense and wasn’t looking at him. Reaching out, he set his hand on top of Oliver’s. “Your hotel is fine, and you’re right, I’m kind of done being around other people right now. Some food and conversation sound pretty good. I’ll text Cait and Cisco and let them know to call if something comes up but otherwise I’m off tonight.”

Oliver nodded, feeling his body relax slightly, even if he was ridiculously nervous for the coming conversation. As they made the short trip to the hotel and then up to the penthouse suite, Barry rolling his eyes at the excess, they kept the conversation light, debating over dinner options and talking about what had been going on with their friends since they’d last seen each other.

Closing the door behind them, Oliver tilted his neck from side to side, feeling his neck pop, as he stripped off his suit jacket. “You mind if I get comfortable? Go ahead and order whatever you like, just double something for me.”

Barry watched Ollie slip out of his suit jacket, the way his white button up strained across his biceps and jerked his gaze away quickly, knowing he was blushing once again. “No, no, that’s fine. Go ahead. I’ll just, uh, find the menu.”

Taking off his own coat, he draped it over the  _ dining room chair,  _ because of course the penthouse had an actual dining room area, and sped quickly through the room looking for the room service menu. Finding it, he tried to ignore the ridiculously high prices and called in their order - basically one of almost everything simple on the menu, seriously they really didn’t need some of the fancy stuff that was available, and a double order of a couple of things as well. As the person taking the order read it back, awe and suspicion in their voice, Barry almost choked on his confirmation as Oliver walked out wearing a loose black henley and comfortable looking jeans worn thin in places with age and use. It was the most relaxed thing he’d ever seen the older man wear. Completely distracted, he cut the man on the phone off, “Yes, yes, that’s fine. Send it to the penthouse, Oliver Queen’s card should be on file for the room. Thanks, bye.”

“Was there a problem?”

“Huh? No...no problem, kinda suspicious about the amount of food but telling him the penthouse suite should probably put an end to questions. They’ll probably be expecting to clean up after a party tomorrow.” They both laughed, and Barry watched as Oliver moved closer, the jeans and soft shirt making the older man look so very touchable. “You, uh, you look nice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so relaxed. Not that I mean you look uptight or something, you always look nice, it’s just that you’re usually in suits or the costume and…”

Oliver stopped less than arm’s length away, lifting his hand to press his finger to Barry’s plump lips, sending him to a stuttering stop, a blush bursting out over his fair skin. “Hush, Bear, I know what you meant. You don’t need to be nervous.”

Licking his lips nervously, tongue flicking over Oliver’s finger and making Barry’s body vibrate from the heated look Ollie gave him in response, Barry gave a broken laugh, “Oh, I really think I do.”

Taking a step back so as not to make the speedster feel crowded, he took a deep breath. “Guess it’s time for that talk then. Look, Barry, I like you. I have for a while. I just...gods, you have no idea how much I want to be with you, but neither one of us can leave our cities, at least not any time soon.”

“Ollie? You don’t really...seriously? You like me? But I’m just...and you’re so…”

“You’re just...what? Sweet? Kind? Brave?  _ Good? _ You are such a better man than I’ll ever be, Bear. Seriously.”

“Ollie, no! You’re...yeah, you’ve not had the best past, but you’ve worked so hard to do better, to  _ be _ better. And, other than in the beginning when you decided to shoot me full of arrows, you’ve been a great mentor and great friend.” Running a hand through his hair, all the emotions he’d been harboring over the past couple years bubbling inside him, he looked at the other man helplessly. “If you only knew how many times I…”

Watching the fading blush light back up again, Oliver stepped closer, tilting Barry’s head up to look him in the eyes. “How many times you…? Tell me, Bear. Please.”

Barry swallowed hard, his body sporadically vibrating with his nerves, though Oliver never seemed to mind, which was just another thing he liked about the man. Biting on his bottom lip, he glanced away, unable to look at his friend as spoke softly, “How many times I’ve thought of being with you...in all the ways possible.”

“Fuck, Barry.” Oliver wrapped his arms around the slender young man, pulling him close. “Tell me no and I’ll stop; we can forget all about this conversation.”

Barry looked up into Oliver’s pretty blue eyes. “I don’t want to forget.”

Oliver sucked in a shaky breath and smiled softly, nodding. Hesitating just a moment, just in case Barry changed his mind, he finally claimed those lips he’d been thinking about for so long in a soft, gentle kiss. It was, honestly, so out of the ordinary for him, but something about Barry made him want to take his time, to be gentle, to enjoy the sweetness of their first kiss.

Barry’s fingers wound up tangled up in Ollie’s hair as the kisses continued, small and soft and chaste. It was so sweet and tender it made his heart clench. They’d just separated, foreheads leaning against each other as they caught their breaths, when there was a knock on the door.

Stealing one more quick kiss, Oliver reluctantly drew away. “That’s probably room service, why don’t you go freshen up while they set everything up. You’ve had a long day and I’m sure you’d like to relax. You can grab any of my clothes you need.”

“Yeah, um, yeah...yeah, okay. I can do that…” Shaking himself out of the daze he’d fallen in during the kiss, he sped into the bedroom, absently listening to Oliver greet the staff and the slight clinking of dishes being arranged. Finding a henley the same color as Oliver’s costume, he walked into the attached bathroom, getting a good look at himself in the mirror. His hair was more of a wreck than normal, his lips swollen and red, and his skin was flushed from his face down under his shirt, and he knew from experience the color creeped halfway down his chest.

Ollie liked him. Ollie  _ liked _ him. Him. Barry Allan. How in all the universes did that manage to happen. And Ollie kissed him! And it sounded like he maybe kinda wanted to do more than that at some point. Barry watched the blush already marring his skin brighten again. Turning on the cold water in the sink, he splashed his face repeatedly, trying to get the burning under control.

Barry’d just pulled his shirt off when Oliver called through the open doorway, “Everything alright?” Stopping just outside the doorway, Oliver’s gaze slid down the defined muscles of Barry’s lithe body. “Gods you’re beautiful.”

The blush Barry had finally managed to get under control, came right back with a vengeance as he vibrated slightly with his nerves. “I...I’m not...I’m just…”

Oliver walked into the spacious bathroom, and stopped just out of reach of the trembling young man. It killed him that Barry thought so little of himself, that he couldn’t see what Oliver saw in him. “You’re beautiful, Bear.” Stepping closer, he pulled the vibrating young man into his arms, holding him close and letting him hide his face against his shoulder, gently rubbing his back to help him calm down. “I wish you could see you the way I do. If you only knew the things I want to do with you…” Smiling as he heard Barry suck in a shaky breath at his admission, he kissed the top of his head. “Come on, you need food before you start shutting down. We can just sit and talk while we eat. We’ll be fine, I promise.”

Sucking in a trembling breath, Barry nodded against Ollie’s shoulder. “Yeah...yeah, okay. That sounds good.”

~~

It only took a matter of moments for Barry to slip the spare shirt on and dart into the dining room, looking at all the food spread out over the six-seater table. As he loaded up his plate with little bits of everything, Oliver got them drinks and selected one of the dishes for himself. They’d been eating in companionable silence for a little while, Barry speeding through his food as his body demanded he replenish his rapidly fading energy since he’d barely eaten the entire day. He’d decimated four plates of food before he finally slowed down, unbelievably grateful that Ollie didn’t care about him speed eating the way he was. 

Oliver laughed as Barry finally returned to normal speeds once more, his fifth plate piled high with more food. He knew how many calories Barry needed in a day to keep functioning and he knew that he hadn’t gotten nearly enough while he was at work. “Feeling better?”

“Much better, thank you. I...I’m glad you don’t mind when I eat like that. Joe and Iris get kinda...upset?...when they see me do it. I just can’t really get them to understand that my body can actually be starving even though I had lunch.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t bother me...well, it bothers me in that I know you’re not taking care of yourself properly, but you only speed through your food for a couple minutes before you go back to regular speed. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Barry ducked his head, blushing yet again. “Thanks, Ollie.”

“So, how about you tell me about these Rogues of yours?”

Barry whined and let his head hit the table. He should have known he wasn’t going to get away that easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like my work? Curious about what other crazy ideas I've had? Check out my [plot bunny page](https://jujubunnies.freeforums.net/). You can comment on existing ideas or leave your own requests.
> 
> I'm also back on [LiveJournal](https://jujukittychick.livejournal.com/) now, so you can send me PMs or see the random things I'm working on as I use it to post ideas and stuff

**Author's Note:**

> Due to the admins taking down all of my plot bunny collections, I now have a separate site [here](https://jujubunnies.freeforums.net) for them. Feel free to leave requests (though I don’t guarantee anything) or tell me which ones you like. Maybe I’ll get inspired. Make sure you leave your AO3 name so I know who to credit if I do write something :)


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